TAX CREDIT CLAIMANTS OF ANY FLAVOUR - C'MERE. <Shouting to get your attention, not in irritation>

[snigger]

Right.

A bit of outreach work here.

As a current advisor, can I just sit you all down and give you your best shot at a trouble free renewal period?

I know there can be errors/bad advisors/renewal packs eaten by dogs, but if you follow this advice you have every chance of things going smoothly, and perhaps my colleagues and I will get a moment between calls between now and September.

(1) Your renewal pack will be issued before 30th June. Go write that on the calendar. If you haven't received it by then, phone up. Don't join the 1000's who clog the phone lines saying "Have you sent me mine yet? Didn't I do this last year?"

(2) If you've phoned up and given an estimate of your 2009/2010 income - THIS IS NOT A RENEWAL.

You've only done your renewal once you've received the annual review pack, checked that your details are all up to date, then phoned in with your income.

(3) Following on from that - PLEASE CHECK YOUR DETAILS ON THE ANNUAL REVIEW. So many people call three years later to tell us they're married/their childcare stopped a decade ago/their kids are all in work of their own. Check.

(4) Write down the date you phone in with your renewal. If you haven't received TWO award notices, (one for 2009/2010 saying finalised award, one for 2010/2011 saying award notice) within three weeks of your call - PHONE BACK.

(5) If you get an automatic renewal that asks you to check your income is within set bandings (eg "Was your income for 2009/2010 lower than £28000 or higher than £75000?") you don't need to call if nothing's changed and the income's within limits. If something has changed, or income's out, PHONE BEFORE JULY 31st - if you don't, it'll auto-renew, and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

(6) If you've claimed with a partner/partners, then on your own, at any point between April 6th 2009 and April 5th 2010, even just for one day, you have to renew each and every claim for them to be finalised. Make sure you mention it to the advisor - we're supposed to check, but it's crazy busy, people call in with a years worth of changes, and it's easy to forget.

OK. That's me. I honestly, sincerely, hope that this helps, and if it prevents even one avoidable overpayment, or frees up the phonelines from unnecessary calls, it'll have been worth all the typing.

Best of luck.

Bumpin' for the evening crowd because nobody with a real life reads the sheaves of explanatory paperwork they get .....

I wish they put that in a BIG sign in the front page of the Tax Credits online info.

That's really helpful - well done and thank-you.

CAn I just ask... I can deduct £123 per week off my income for every week that I've been on SMP is that correct?

If so, where do I tell you guys that it's what I have done?

Ta Much!

Stickybeaker I think it is £100 a week, it was when I did it.

OK - yes Ive heard both amounts. Snigger what's the official figure please?

It's the first £100 per week you leave off, up to a maximum 39 weeks. If you take additional unpaid leave after the 39 weeks SMP you get treated like anyone else on unpaid leave - ie for tax credit purposes, you're not working, and you need to phone in and say so. You then need to phone again to add your work details back on when you return from unpaid leave.

But yes, income-wise, you can deduct the first £100 per week - and don't forget if you have a joint claim and your partner took Statutory Paternity Pay, they can also deduct the first £100 per week of that - it's not much, but sometimes it can make a difference.

It is £100.

x-posted.

Thanks Snigger -is there a section to say that's what I've done?

Point 6 I didnt realise - I thought my old claim for when married (april to june last year) was finialised as I had had a final notice and overpayment notice? But I will ensure both are talked through when I ring up, thanks.

Also, if you or partner are self-employed and make a loss - you can deduct the amount of the loss from any other household income that tax year.

So for instance, if you work and make £10k, and partner is self employed and makes a 7k loss, you only declare £3k as income.

If the loss is bigger than that years income, you can carry it forward to the next year, but if it's carried forward you can only deduct it from the self employed income. For instance, you make £10k, partner makes £18k self employed loss. For the year of the loss you declare nil income for partner, nil income for you. The following year, you declare your income as normal, and partner can deduct £8k from any self employed profits.

also, this is the first year I have ever had to claim expenses back through my wages so it looks like my wages are on average £400-500 more than what they are, can you put that down on the claim form? (no i dont have the form yet, but its playing on my mind!)

stickybeaker - you don't need to write in what you've done, you just need to keep a note. If any cross checking is done, the most that will happen is a brief letter to you asking for confirmation of the figure you declared, and at that stage you could expand on the reason for your deductions. If you phone through your renewal I'd always advise you explain how much you've deducted and ask the advisor to leave the details in your notes.

Okey Dokey - very kind of you to advise, thank-you.

very helpful thanks - have copied and pasted for future reference.

Another point I've just thought of - all of you with children who've turned sixteen since 1st September 2009 :

Child tax credit is paid up till the 31st of August after a child's 16th birthday. If the child in question is staying in full time non advanced education (at least 12 hours a week, below NVQ level three, not working more than 24 hours per week in their own right) you still qualify for tax credits. However, you do have to let tax credits know the child is staying in education, otherwise your payments for that child will stop after 31st August. The earliest the update can be made is 17th April (138 days before 31st August) so it's worth doing when you phone in with your renewal.

Also be aware if you're affected by this that even if you phone up and update this, your payments might be interrupted just on this once year, as the system has to do a 'sweep' of all affected claims on or after the 31st August and recalculate them, meaning there can be some changes to payment amounts. If you are affected, you'll notice your payment schedule either runs up to 31st August (for one child claims) or reduces after 31st August (multiple child claims) This is normal, and will update after 31st August - you won't get an award notice confirming the change as normal, this will come after the 'sweep'.

thanks for the advice and for this thread snigger.

can i ask?...i made a recent claim, the childcare element was reduced to zero due to earnings amount. will i need to advise of change if i cancel one of the childcare arrangements? and will that change my award?

secondly (sorry) if i reduce my working hours, do i have to wait till next year for an adjustment?

do you know how accurate the 'do i qualify?' thingy is?

thanx in advance.

Unfortunately, pinkheart, if your expenses reimbursements go through your wage and you are taxed on them, the figures will be included in your P60 and this is the figure yyou must declare - I've cut and pasted the guidance direct from HMRC's website below :

(Please remember, by the way, I'm happy to give what advice I can, and I alway check figures etc with the HMRC website before posting and post links where possible, but if at all in doubt check with the helpline, it's what we're there for.)

working what income to declare

Step 2: what you need to take off this
Add up:

Any payments you made to charity through a Give As You Earn (GAYE) scheme, unless your employer took them off.
The amount of Statutory Maternity, Paternity or Adoption Pay you?ve been paid each week - up to a maximum of £100 per week
Money you had to pay out to do your job and which your employer didn't pay back to you. Include travel costs, but not the cost of getting to and from work.
Tax-deductible payments which are deductible for Income Tax purposes, for example fees and subscriptions to professional bodies or societies, employee liabilities and indemnity insurance premiums, and agency fees paid by entertainers. Do not deduct these payments if your employer reimbursed them.
Flat-rate expenses agreed by your employer and HM Revenue & Customs, to maintain or renew tools or special clothes, for example a uniform, that are necessary to do your job. You will find the amount of allowable expenses on your P2 Coding Notice
What you paid into a pension scheme that?s registered with HMRC. This includes a stakeholder pension and any Free-Standing Additional Voluntary Contributions. Don't show anything that was taken from your wages.
The gross amount of any donations to charity you made using Gift Aid. The gross amount is the amount before basic rate tax is deducted

snigger, if someone is self emplyed, and last years total income was about £5K, and this year they have a total income of £14K, then will they have been over paid? (Because they don't actually know how much they will have earned until the end of the tax year?)

If so, will tax credits massively drop because, for the past year payments have been paid based on an income of £5K, rather than £14K?

And could you give them an estimation of how much tax credits some one earing £14K would get???

I went through my post backlog the other day and just discovered I had missed the letter asking for confirmation of actual 2008-09 income by 31st Jan 2010 . Hoping it is not a big deal if I ring it in better late than never.

snigger, just wondering - will my payment date change when I renew? When I've made changes in the past my pay days have changed (from mondays to fridays and now thursdays) - would this happen with a renewal?

secondly (sorry) if i reduce my working hours, do i have to wait till next year for an adjustment?

do you know how accurate the 'do i qualify?' thingy is?

thanx in advance.
renderedspeechless : the way tax credits works is this - we take your circumstances and tot up which elements of tax credits you're entitled to the science bit so if you're working you get working tax credit 'elements' (ie a set figure per tax year, paid on a pro-rata daily rate dependant upon when the change happened) if you have kids you get the relevant child elements, and if you fit the eligibility criteria, childcare elements.

We tot up the total of your 'elements' as a potential entitlement. Then your annual income as a household is taken into account, and if it goes above a certain threshold the 'elements' are reduced by 37p for every pound over the threshold you earn.

Working Tax Credit is reduced first, then childcare elements, then child tax credits, and finally, the £547/year 'family' element.

So, to finally answer your question, you should definitely update your childcare changes because even though the childcare elements are reduced to nil because of your income they are still being included in the calculation of your award. This can lead, in many undiscovered cases, to underpayments, but sadly more often to overpayments - people leave their £140/week childcare costs on the claim because they're getting (so they think) nothing towards it, but the figures are still being used in the calculation, and dependant upon the level of your income it could affect your payments.

Finally, if you change your working hours, phone up immediately - changes are best reported within 30 days. Changes to working hours affect your payments in one of three ways - (1) if your, or in a joint claim your combined, hours go below 30 you lose an 'element'. (2) if your hours go below 16 this will affect your eligibility for childcare costs whether you're in a single or a joint claim. (3) changes in working hours often mean changes in income, and changes in income mostly have a direct affect on your award, so if your hours change, get your most recent payslip since the change, check the "Pay To Date" (summary of your income from start of tax year with that employer) and add on a figure to cover the rest of the tax year in your new circumstances, always remembering to include any previous, or additional employers/income sources within the tax year.

The 'do I qualify' thingy is fairly accurate, but you can ask for an entitlement calculation if you call up. It is always at best an estimate though, as your award is affected by any changes you've made earlier in the tax year.

One more thng - if you are also claiming Council Tax Relief, you need to inform your council if your CTC/WTC award changes.

this will avoid having them realise later in the year, and possibly make you pay a full years council tax in very little time indeed...

Learn from my mistake.

What date does the renewal have to be done by if you have to fill in the form? It seems to get earlier every year.

Also, why do they have to send two copies of everything when they KNOW we are living together as a couple? This has always puzzled me..... DH never reads his, I just shred them for him.